Sleep-Training Conclusion

Or at least I think it's concluded. Last night Alex slept through the night! Well, he actually fussed a little at 2:30 a.m., but then fell back asleep before I went in to do a check-in, and then he fussed some between 5:30 and 6, but I'm not supposed to get him out till at least 6, and he wasn't fussing very loud or very much, so I wasn't sure if he was all the way awake and I should do a check-in, or if he was partially asleep, and I should wait. But basically he slept through the night!

So last night was great, but two nights ago, not so much. On Monday night, Alex woke up at 1:30 a.m. So I got up and started check-ins, but it took him two hours to go back to sleep! So I finally crawled in bed at 3:30 just to have him wake up at 4 a.m. and start crying again. Finally I just got him out, warmed up some milk, and fed him. I know it goes against the program, but I knew he was hungry, and I doubted he would sleep more till he got fed. After that, I put him in his crib and went back to bed. He fussed some here and there, but mostly slept till 6:45 a.m. So I was thinking about what I did wrong that made him wake up and cry so much, and I realized that weaning the feedings did not work. The problem was that Alex did not transfer what he was eating at night to the day as I fed him less each night. It reminds me of when he was a newborn. He didn't complain, so I thought he was eating enough, and then I took him in to weigh him at the lactation clinic, and he had lost 10 oz in one day (not good when you start out at 7 lb). So two nights ago, when night came, he was starved and cried because he was hungry. So I knew I needed to take it upon myself to make sure he ate enough during the day.

So yesterday, every time he ate, I wrote it on our white board how much he ate. Every time he got up from a nap, I immediately gave him the bottle, and the last few hours before bed, I gave him the bottle once an hour (cluster feedings). He surprisingly took it each time (sometimes he's like, "Uh, no thank you," when it's only been an hour or two since he ate). So by the time he went to bed, he'd had 33.5 oz (instead of the 26 oz he's been having during the day lately). Well, that must have done the trick since he didn't wake up once hungry during the night. Of course, it will be better proven if he continues to sleep this well, but at least I have hope. I seriously thought after Monday night that he might not be ready to be sleep-trained, so I'm glad I figured out why Alex was having such a hard time.

So yeah, I'm pretty excited about Alex sleeping and at the prospect of getting 8+ hours of sleep each night, even if Alex does wake me up at 6 a.m. Better than being woken up two or more times a night like before. Yay!